Submitted to: Scientific Reports
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/8/2025
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Water may often be polluted with pharmaceutical contaminants such as antibiotics. A group of scientists evaluated compounds that can degrade antibiotics in water with light activation to clean up the water supply. The results indicate that a common metal combined with oxygen is a natural catlyst to degrade a common antibiotic found in water instead of using potentially toxic chemicals. These data are important to producers, researchers, nutritionists, consultants, veterinarians, and packers as they strive to reduce the burden of liver abscesses in cattle.

Technical Abstract: MnO2:xFe3+ (MF-x, x=0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10) nanoparticles was synthesized via the bio-mediated process using the leaf extract of Tridax procumbens as the reducing and stabilizing agents. Multiple physio-chemical characterization techniques investigate the as-synthesized nanoparticles' structural, optical, and morphological properties. Optical band gap calculation revealed that the as-synthesized MF-x samples possess the reduced optical bandgap in the range of 2.06 to 0.97 eV, which makes them potential in terms of the photocatalyst under visible light. PXRD analysis established the nature of crystalline nanoparticles of a cubic structure belonging to space group number 206 (I a-3). Further, the qualitative structural information was confirmed by refining the obtained structure using the Rietveld method, showing the good attainment value of '2 (2.9 for MF-0 and 2.3 for MF-10). Raman spectra confirmed the existence of active modes from the bixbyite structure with the space group I a-3 by the recorded Fg and Eg+Fg modes at 632.43 cm-1 and 313 cm-1, respectively. Magnetic properties were confirmed by VSM measurements (Mr=33.42 emu/g, Ms=65.11 emu/g, and Hc=1393.47 Oe). Furthermore, the FESEM and TEM analyses showed a highly crystalline uniform porous morphology with evaluated particle sizes in agreement with the PXRD results. Additionally, the quantitative aspects of precursor elements were confirmed through XPS studies. The photocatalytic activity of MF-10 was investigated for the degradation of Tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl), an antibiotic widely used and one of the major water pollutants. The degradation efficiency was monitored with optimized parameters like pH, catalyst dosage, and initial TC-HCl concentration under visible light irradiation. Results show that as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibit high photocatalytic performance with a 94.23% degradation in 90 min. Kinetic studies revealed that the reaction follows 1st-order kinetics. Also, the photocatalyst was recovered through centrifugation to study the morphological changes, if any after first cycle of the degradation process, which resulted in no significant change. On the other hand, pH variation and reusability test indicated that at neutral pH value, the degradation efficiency was significantly reduced at the 5th cycle. Thus, the present work has the potential application of bio-mediated MnO2: Fe3+ nanoparticles as low-cost and environmentally friendly material in water treatment applications.